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About the FSA/OWI Black-and-White Negatives

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration - Office of
War Information Photograph Collection form an extensive pictorial
record of American life between 1935 and 1944. This U.S. government
photography project was headed for most of its existence by Roy
E. Stryker, who guided the effort in a succession of government
agencies: the Resettlement Administration (1935-1937), the Farm
Security Administration (1937-1942), and the Office of War
Information (1942-1944). The collection also includes photographs
acquired from other governmental and non-governmental sources,
including the News Bureau at the Offices of Emergency Management
(OEM), various branches of the military, and industrial corporations.

In total, the black-and-white portion of the collection consists of
about 175,000 black-and-white film negatives, encompassing both
negatives that were printed for FSA-OWI use and those that were not
printed at the time. To view the unprinted negatives, go to the
description for any FSA/OWI image and select the "Browse
neighboring items by call number" link. Most unprinted negatives
simply have "Untitled" as their caption. Some have titles
based on similar images that appear to have related content. Color
transparencies also made by the FSA/OWI are available in a separate
section of the catalog: FSA/OWI Color Photographs
[view description].